and fibre of both
seemed perfectly disciplined to perform its functions. The elevation of
the arm, the bend of the elbow, and every finger in the hand of the
knight, in putting his louis d'ors into the box appeared to be perfectly
studied, because it was perfectly natural. How much devotion there was
in all this I know not, but it was a consummate school to teach the
rising generation the perfection of the French air, and external
politeness and good-breeding. I have seen nothing to be compared to it
in any other country....

At nine o'clock we went and saw the king, queen, and royal family, at
the _grand couvert_. Whether M. Francois, a gentleman who undertook upon
this occasion to conduct us, had contrived a plot to gratify the
curiosity of the spectators, or whether the royal family had a fancy to
see the raw American at their leisure, or whether they were willing to
gratify him with a convenient seat, in which he might see all the royal
family, and all the splendors of the place, I know not; but the scheme
could not have been carried into execution, certainly, without the
orders of the king. I was selected, and summoned indeed, from all my
company, and ordered to a seat close beside the royal family. The seats
on both sides of the hall, arranged like the seats in a theatre, were
all full of ladies of the first rank and fashion in the kingdom, and
there was no room or place for me but in the midst of them. It was not
easy to make room for one more person. However, room was made, and I was
situated between two ladies, with rows and ranks of ladies above and
below me, and on the right hand and on the left, and ladies only. My
dress was a decent French dress, becoming the station I held, but not to
be compared with the gold, and diamonds, and embroidery, about me. I
could neither speak nor understand the language in a manner to support a
conversation, but I had soon the satisfaction to find it was a silent
meeting, and that nobody spoke a word but the royal family to each
other, and they said very little. The eyes of all the assembly were
turned upon me, and I felt sufficiently humble and mortified, for I was
not a proper object for the criticisms of such a company. I found myself
gazed at, as we in America used to gaze at the sachems who came to make
speeches to us in Congress; but I thought it very hard if I could not
command as much power of face as one of the chiefs of the Six Nations,
and therefore determined that